Toms River Man Gets 45 Years For Teen’s Beating Death

A Toms River man has been sentenced to 45 years in state prison for the brutal beating death of a teen in 1997.

Monmouth County prosecutors said 19-year-old Andre Williams was attacked in Sean Harris' apartment after Harris accused him of robbery. Williams was then beaten, burned, choked, hanged, and stabbed by Harris and others who were in the apartment.

Williams' body was later found in a Neptune park.

Harris, a former Asbury Park resident whose last known address was in Toms River, was convicted of murder charges in January and sentenced Friday. He must serve 35 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Prosecutors say the break in the case came in 2009, when authorities got information from a narcotics case that led them to Harris and six co-defendants.

(Copyright 2012 by Townsquare Media, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.)